There is no rhyme or reason to seizures. It’s enough to make you insane. There can be good periods then bad periods with no explanation, no known triggers or med changes.

A little before 1 a.m. this morning Chris and I had an idea we were about to have a day with an unexplained seizure increase. Connor’s Emfit alerted us to a convulsive seizure a little before 1 am. He doesn’t set off the monitor every night, but when he does, we typically see seizures from 4 a.m. on. Right off the bat we knew it would be a funky night if he was having a seizure that early.

We put him in bed with us and slept until the next rough one at 4:52 a.m. Then he had another one at 5:46. Then 6:59. But shortly after, they clustered and he had four in half an hour. It was totally unlike him. We had never had to use Diastat before, which is why I think we hesitated longer than more seasoned parents would have, but we administered it at 7:30 a.m. It was an easier and smoother process than I had built it up to be in my head through all those years I had to be trained to use it as a teacher (I never actually had to administer it while working, and never could have dreamed at the time I would ever have a prescription for it in my house). For those not familiar, Diastat is an emergency med used to stop status seizures (ones that won’t stop) and clusters of seizures and is administered rectally.

Connor slept on the couch with me for two hours afterward, and amazingly, woke up perky happy and raring to go. He did have one shorter seizure shortly after waking (sleep cycles are his big trigger) but it was much shorter than the previous ones, and not long after, he was up and moving around again.

I’m so baffled by seizures and their effect. Connor had nine convulsive seizures throughout the night, required emergency meds, yet wakes up ready to antagonize the dog and terrorize the Christmas tree. But sometimes he has days where he is weak and struggling to walk or eat because of seizures we can barely see or can’t see at all.

I know many parents that believe the full moon triggers more seizures. I never gave it much thought, but last night was a full moon… Who knows? Hopefully we are done seizing for the day. Connor is currently shrieking at Paw Patrol and testing how far he can toss his milk between sips AKA being himself, so fingers crossed the rest of the day will be good.

We did finally get word that he will be starting Epidiolex in early February. I wish it was sooner, but I’m grateful we get to try it so I won’t complain. Fingers crossed it will provide relief.